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Kirsten Peterson

EDC

United States of America - Waltham

Biography

Kirsten Peterson has extensive expertise designing engaging learning experiences, managing large-scale online teaching and learning initiatives, and leading teams of instructional designers. She helps organizations build, nurture, and sustain communities of learners, with a special focus on online learning, and also supports the integration of virtual and blended learning opportunities in K–12 school districts.

Peterson leads EDC's EdTech Leaders Online (ETLO) a learning design group that helps organizations with an educational mission build capacity for successful online learning initiatives. ETLO has won national awards, including the International Association of K-12 Online Learning Award for most innovative online learning program. Peterson also serves as the co-Principal Investigator of a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to prepare a large, diverse group of high school teachers to implement the successful Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum with their students. Recently, she worked closely with a team of EDC content experts to design the new Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education Foundations of Inclusive Practice online courses for educators and administrators that are featured in the Department's “Educator Effectiveness Guidebook for Inclusive Practice.”

Working closely with client Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Peterson led the development of an online art history course that was awarded a 2015 Gold MUSE award by the American Alliance of Museums (read a blog post about the development of the course), and she has gone on to complete other online interactive learning experiences for Crystal Bridges. Peterson also led the development of an online communication system for the Massachusetts Adult Basic Education professional development program; teacher and student training for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme Online; and online course development for Boston University’s Clinical and Translational Research Institute. She serves as the lab instructor for Web-Based Communication Strategies for Public Health Interventions, a graduate course in the Boston University School of Public Health’s MPH program.

In addition to playing a lead role in the 2nd Annual Distance Learning Summit at Crystal Bridges, Peterson regularly presents her work at the annual conferences of organizations such as the International Association for K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL). She is the author of the blog post "Designing Engaging Online Learning Experiences" and the coauthor of “Using Online Learning to Enhance Teacher Professional Development and Graduate Certification Programs.”

Peterson taught high school English and Journalism prior to joining EDC. She holds a BA in English Literature from Montana State University and an EdM in Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.